D&D 5E The new playtest feats need more action!

[ZombieRoboNinja]

So the more I look at the specialties from the new playtest, the more I'm vaguely disappointed. Sure, a lot of it is that they cut some of my favorite specialties, like Necromancer and Defender - hopefully just for this playtest. But when I looked through the new feats, I noticed another pattern: unlike the second playtest, very few of these new feats offer you interesting new at-will actions or reactions.

The Defender feats were great because they impacted the way you play your character from round to round by giving you new reaction options. Where these new feats do provide such options, they're almost all daily powers. IMHO, it would often make for more interesting options if the decision was not, "Is it time to blow this power?" but instead, "are the tradeoffs for using this power worthwhile in this situation?" For example, what if Quicken Spell gave you disadvantage on all rolls that turn, but didn't have a daily limit?

There are lots of other new feats that offer passive benefits, like Alertness. These can be useful and powerful, but the problem is, they're BORING. We're a step away from 3e Weapon Focus here. They're also a bit annoying to use, because they're conditional bonuses you have to keep track of. Alertness doesn't just give you +2 Spot, it gives you +2 on SOME Spot checks. I expect a bit of "I rolled a 16, so that's 21 to Spot. Wait, does it count as hidden? So that's 23." Not a huge deal, but it slows down the game for math.

When I get a feat, I want to be able to do something new - or at the very least, to be able to do something in a new way. That's why I like the Stealth Specialist feats much more than the Investigation Specialist feats (except for Keen Intuition and Master Sneak, which are basically Skill Focus: Sense Motive and Skill Focus: Sneak, and I don't know why they don't just call them that). The Stealth Specialist feats dramatically alter the way you use Sneak, while the Investigation Specialist feats just give you higher rolls.

I hope in the next playtest we see a return of more active feats!

 

[bbjore]

I agree. With a selection of only 7 feats throughout the 20 levels, every choice a player makes should be something that sees use every session, if not every encounter, and should have an impact on the way that PC plays. Bonuses are nice, but they're not the way to do it. Alertness as a +2 to Spot and Initiative is alright, but Alertness as the above and the ability to take an action during the surprise round is far better.

Since PCs only have 7 feat slots, they can afford to let the feats have considerably more impact on the way a PC plays.

 

[Grimmjow]

sorry for bringing up an old thread but i agree. The feats should impact your character more than once a day. Every time you take a feat, it should change your play style.

Also, let us pick from all the minor spells with the divine and arcane magic feats.

Also, Also, magic the divine magic feats less healer + buffy.

 

[Connorsrpg]

A very good observation and i agree. A feat should let you do something new, most likely often. (Though I don't wish to state once per encounter b/c i would like some of them to impact the Exploration pillar too).

 

[Viking Bastard]

Weren't the Defender feats just swept over to Maneuvers?

 

[Blackbrrd]

Some very good points here. Personally, I loved the Spring Attack feat from 3e. It completely changed how your character would move on the battlefield.

 

[Minigiant]

Weren't the Defender feats just swept over to Maneuvers?

Yeah they were.


And I agree with the Passive nature of specialties being a disappointment. Passive bonuses because they are infrequently used then to get more into the powergamer realm as you cannot invoke them. Active uses tend to allow for more style as they are not DM dependent.